The fiscal relationship between the Central and State governments in India has just been radically transformed. As far as intergovernmental transfers are concerned, the 14th Finance Commission report will have wide-ranging implications for India and lessons for other large federal countries around the world. Here’s why:

The US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is catching flack for recommending that Americans consider the environmental consequences of eating so many burgers. Pointing to climate change and other environmental effects of meat production, the panel suggested Americans contemplate the broader implications when choosing what to eat.

Last week, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, completed a $7.5 billion replenishment to fund its work on immunization in the world’s poorest countries between now and 2020. Gavi’s next step is to ensure that the money is used as effectively as possible to save lives and improve health.

Six months have passed since the WHO declared the current outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in West Africa a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. This declaration set in motion an international response to curb the spread of the disease. While far from over, there are signs that the epidemic is starting to come under control and that the outbreak is moving into a new phase.

India represents about one fifth of global disease burden, and much of it is preventable. Yet India’s government spends only 1 percent of GDP on health, of which 80 percent is subnational, raised and spent by states themselves.

This post is informed by a December 18, 2014, CGD roundtable discussion on Ebola.

The biggest outbreak of Ebola in history has taken a tragic toll in West Africa: almost 21,000 cases and more than 8,000 deaths in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The crisis is far from over and the first priority is to reach zero cases.

Last September, we released a report on how the Global Fund could get more health for its money. In it, we offered concrete suggestions for improvements in several different value-for-money domains, all with an eye toward maximizing the health impact of every dollar spent.

In his early days as India’s new prime minister, Narendra Modi has shown remarkable leadership in all sectors, including health, for which he’s articulated his vision to create a Swasth Bharat, a Healthy India. Combined with two major policy windows—the proposed restructuring of the Planning Commission and the report of the 14th Finance Commission expected by the end of the year—the policy reforms under the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA)’s mandate of “Universal Health Assurance for All” have the potential to be a game-changer for India’s neglected public health system.

On World AIDS Day in 2003, WHO and UNAIDS launched a campaign called the “3 by 5 initiative,” with the objective to “treat three million people with HIV by 2005.” At that time, AIDS treatment was still prohibitively expensive for poor countries, where only a few thousand people had access to treatment. Thanks to President Bush’s creation of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program that same year, the number of people on antiretroviral therapy (ART) began to rise dramatically. While the total number of people on ART reached only one million in 2005, the objective to reach three million people was attained in 2007, and the numbers have continued to climb. The numbers have now surpassed 11 million in low- and middle-income countries and 13 million worldwide. (See bottom trend line in figure 1.)